Intel readies server market for Hyper-Threading - Semiconductors

Electronic News, Feb 11, 2002 by Tom Murphy

Intel Corp. is on the verge of releasing next-generation server processors and a technology that will allow multiprocessor systems to benefit from a performance boost of up to 30 percent.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant will launch its Xeon processors for dual-processor systems in the current quarter. Previously, Intel had said it would introduce the processor in the first half of this year. The processor, codenamed Prestonia, is based on 0.13-micron technology, a design shrink from the 0.18-micron generation.

Concurrent with the release, Intel will also introduce its Hyper-Threading technology--or what the rest of the industry refers to as simultaneous multithreading. Essentially, the technology will allow Xeon-based systems to execute more than one instruction during a period when it would normally execute one.

Intel representatives describe Hyper-Threading as a technology that allows multithreaded operating systems and applications to view a single processor as if it were two processors. With a 30 percent performance boost, Hyper-Threading is designed to speed up e-business transactions and enterprise server response times. It is also supposed to allow servers to accommodate larger workloads.

Intel President Paul Otellini gave Hyper-Threading high visibility during his company's developer forum last August. In that speech, Otellini said Hyper-Threading would be released in systems in the first half of the year.

But Intel is pulling that schedule in by a quarter; last week it announced a program that Intel is calling Early Access Program to encourage the development of specific applications that would benefit from Hyper-Threading. It's designed to help small- and medium-sized applications developers prepare specific programs for the technology, according to Melissa Laird, director of developer services for Intel. The program provides for online training and support for developers using Intel's NetBurst microarchitecture as well as Hyper-Threading. With the Early Access Program, developers also get access to Intel's compilers and performance analyzers and benefit from co-marketing efforts with Intel at product launches and trade shows, Laird said.

Many of the developers that Intel is pursuing have applications in the market for Intel's Xeon III server processors, according to Shannon Poulin, enterprise marketing manager for Intel. But many of those same developers can benefit by retuning their code for dual-processor Xeons, which share the same processor core as Intel's Pentium 4 line for PCs.

Hyper-Threading technology will also be available in Intel's Foster family of processors for the four-way and eight-way server market, Poulin said. Those processors are also expected to launch this quarter.